Call for Proposals : Grant-making to ECAS Members in the EU – 2025

ECAS is pleased to launch its 2025 Call for proposals for its members, “Grant-making to ECAS’ Members in the EU”, which is part of the EURECA (European Citizenship Accelerator) 2025 project, co-funded by the Citizenship, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) Programme of the European Union.

The call for proposals of 2025 has two different strands, outlined below.

Lot 1: Tackling disinformation and strengthening CSOs resilience

The amplification of disinformation attacks in European societies in recent years is likely to remain a lasting factor in foreign attempts to disrupt the democratic process in Europe. In addition, more complex threats have arisen, such as the increasing use of AI for the creation of engaging disinformation content, using ever more advanced tactics. Many national populist actors take up and amplify such narratives for their domestic use – to shrink civic democratic space and distort elections.

To address these challenges, ECAS call for proposals under Lot 1 aims at tackling disinformation narratives and building CSO resilience against disinformation. ECAS will encourage a collaboration between its members by providing the opportunity to consortia of up to three members in the EU to apply. These projects need to clearly demonstrate the added value of the partnership in terms of a common strategy to tackling disinformation narratives and/or shared good practices, and/or outreaching and engaging a substantially broader target group audience, and/or ensuring a measurable greater impact on policymaking.

The expected result is strengthened civic capacity to address disinformation, anti-democratic discourse, and populist narratives.

Lot 2: Ensuring digital transformation that leaves no one behind

The digital transformation process in Europe shapes the way in which we live in the 21^st century. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this process as more and more people require access to the internet to work, connect with others, and use citizen services. According to the Digital Economy and Society Index, in 2022, only 54% of people aged 16-74 had at least basic digital skills. Moreover, the differentiation in digital skills widens when broken down by age group and whether one lives in an urban or rural area.

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) published a Decision setting out key performance indicators to measure progress towards the digital targets and a Guidance to the Member States which should develop their national strategic roadmaps to achieve the KPIs set by the EC. As Member States will implement those roadmaps during the coming years, engagement of citizens and civil society in the process will be of crucial importance both in terms of awareness-raising of the digital targets and concrete recommendations on how the targets will be implemented to ensure an all-inclusive digital transformation that leaves no one behind.

To address these challenges, ECAS call for proposals under Lot 2 aims at ensuring a comprehensive civic monitoring process at the national level of the implementation of the national roadmaps that can contribute to both – achieving the targets regarding digital skills and innovations at national level while making sure that no one is left behind. ECAS will provide its members with a Civic Monitoring Methodology Framework.

The expected result is enhanced digital inclusion to ensure digital transformation that leaves no-one behind and/or increased innovation in forms and methods of civic engagement in policymaking (both digital and offline)

Financial support available

In 2025, ECAS will regrant the amount of EUR 175,000 through grants in range 15 000-56 000 EUR for projects implemented for a period of up to 6 months. ECAS expects to fund between 8 to 12 projects, depending on a number of consortium projects. The possible grant awards are as follows:

Lot 1:

• Projects of a single member – up to EUR 15000
• Projects of a consortium of 2 members – up to EUR 35000
• Projects of a consortium 3 members – up to EUR 56000

Lot 2:

• Projects of a single member – up to EUR 15000

The grant will take the form of a lump sum, reimbursing a fixed amount established by ECAS on the basis of the budget available and the estimates indicated by the beneficiaries in their project budgets

The following criteria will be taken into account when establishing the budget:

• European Commission’s flat rates for travel, accommodation and per diem
• The eligible costs per activity: applicants will be requested to provide detailed Key Performance Indicators (target and baseline values) for their project activities from a list pre-defined by ECAS, which will be considered in the grant calculation. KPIs will relate to outputs and deliverables, such as events, outreach of communication and information activities, publications, etc.

The usual project payment scheme includes a pre-payment of 80% of the grant and a final payment (after reporting) of 20% (more details are available in Annex B – Guidelines for Applicants).

Who can apply?

All ECAS members that meet the following requirements:

• registered legal non-profit entities and non-governmental organisations in a Member State of the European Union;
• respecting EU values as laid down in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights;
• non-affiliated entity(ies), branches, associated partners or sub-contractors of ECAS;
• non-EU-wide networks or umbrella organisations;
• not receiving funds from bodies which are incompatible with EU values (confirmation in applicants’ Declaration of Honour).

Projects can be implemented in partnership with other legal entities (public or private bodies), established in the same or in other EU Member States, if applicants wish so.

What is the funding for?

The following activities taking place in the EU are eligible for financial support in Lot 1 and Lot 2:

• awareness raising and outreach campaigns for the general public and key stakeholders;
• organisation of civic platforms and civic dialogues;
• watchdog, monitoring, lobbying and advocacy activities,
• training and capacity-building of key stakeholders.

All projects’ duration should not exceed six months.

Projects should demonstrate a clear European dimension in their activities.

Timeline

Candidates will have to submit their applications through the ECAS website before 15 March, 23:59 CEST. To answer this call, applicants are required to follow the process outlined below:

• Step 1: Carefully read the Guidelines for Applicants.
• Step 2: Fill in the Application Form, add or complete all mandatory annexes listed in it, and transform it into a single PDF file. The budget table can be completed in a separate Excel file.
• Step 3: Register your organisation in the EU Funding & Tenders Portal and get a Participant Identification Code (PIC) following the instructions available at this link.
• Step 4:  Submit your proposal’s documents before 15 March 2025, 23:59 CEST, via this link.

**Please carefully read the form instructions and the Guidelines for Applicants before completing your application!

When applying for the ECAS Grant-making call, please also note that:

• Only applications using the provided templates (see list on the right of this page) and submitted before the deadline will be considered for evaluation.
• All sections must be written in English for the proposal to be eligible.

Online information sessions

An informational webinar for all eligible ECAS members will be held on 30 January 2025, 10.00-12.00 CET.

You can access the recording here.

Following the evaluation of the proposals, ECAS will announce the projects awarded. The results will be available here shortly.